Your child's first relationships are with his family. By learning about families in general and about his family specifically, your toddler will learn how people interact with, love, and support each other. He will also learn his role in your family. You will notice that some of the activities in this chapter involve other family members. This is a great way to build family cohesion with your toddler as he learns.

Family Tree

Help your child make a physical representation of your family. This project is even more fun if everyone in the family participates.

• On the poster board, either glue on the tree branch or use crayons to draw the tree. Help your child use crayons to draw in branches for each family member.

• Glue the photos on the branches. Show your child how to place senior family members such as grandparents and parents on the upper branches. If you wish, label each photo.

Big Feet, Little Feet

This activity will help your child learn about sizes and comparison. You may wish to do this activity with hands as well. If you have a cooperative cat or dog in the family, you can include it, too.

• Have each family member place his or her feet on the construction paper. Help your child trace around the feet with a marker.

• Cut the “feet” out and label them.

• Show your child how to compare the sizes of family feet. Can he guess which outline belongs to each family member?

• Let your child decorate the feet with crayons.

I Know Your Nose

Can your child identify other family members by just looking at a nose or other facial feature? This activity develops visual discrimination and problem-solving skills.

• Cut out each family member's facial features (eyes, nose, and mouth).

• Glue all of the eye sets to one index card, all of the noses on another, and the mouths on a third.

• For each card, challenge your toddler to identify the owner of the facial features.

• To extend this activity, omit the step of gluing the pictures onto the index cards; instead, tape them on temporarily. Let your child remove them and create a new person by jumbling the facial features into a new face.

Hiding Family

This traditional finger play is a great way to help your toddler learn about family titles while he develops fine motor control.

• Show your child how to hide his hands behind his back.

• Teach him this song with the corresponding motions. Use the tune “Frere Jacques.”

Where's the father? Where's the father?

Here I am

(extend one hand with thumb out)

Here I am.

(repeat motion with other hand)

How are you today, dear?

Very well, I thank you.

(wiggle fingers as if they were speaking to each other)

Time to hide.

(put hand behind the back)

Time to hide.

(repeat motion with other hand)

Additional verses:

Where is the mother? (index finger)

Where is the brother? (middle finger)

Where is the sister? (ring finger)

Where is the baby? (pinkie finger)

Where is the family? (all fingers)